Highlights
President Petersen asked for a moment of silence to honor Constance Belin, who passed away in June after a battle with cancer. Belin served on the Board from 1977 until her death in 1980. Petersen stated the following: “Those who serve on the Board leave an imprint for posterity and become a part of the board’s history and its strong tradition. Regent Belin’s four years added much to that tradition.”

The five Regent Institutions presented revised 1980-81 budgets, following a 3.6-percent across-the-board appropriations cut ordered by Governor Robert Ray just 10 days earlier. This amounted to a $9.43 million cut to the Regents Enterprise. Governor Ray would order an additional one-percent reduction in December, 1980.

A proposal by the University of Iowa Student Associations Senate for allowing non-university minors to attend Field House concerts was passed.

The University of Iowa made a property purchase request for 229 Grand Avenue – then a private residence – for $61,000. This property eventually became part of Boyd Law Building, which opened in 1986.

Budgets for the $6 million third addition to the Iowa State University Library were approved. ISU President W. Robert Parks and his wife Ellen spearheaded the effort, which would quadruple the size of the original building. The addition was completed in 1983 and the building was renamed the William Robert Parks and Ellen Sorge Parks Library the following year.

The University of Northern Iowa requested the Arts and Industries Building be renamed Latham Hall in honor of O.R. Latham, the third president of UNI. Currently, Latham Hall houses UNI’s School of Applied Human Sciences and the Earth Science Department.